The introduction of the so-called Bedroom Tax has hit people in Bradford harder than any other Yorkshire district, according to the National Housing Federation.

The federation, which represents social landlords, says tenants are being forced to choose between feeding their families and paying their rent.

It analysed new Government figures and found people in Bradford hit by the Spare Room Subsidy had lost an average of £766 in housing benefit per year, the highest figure in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Its Yorkshire lead manager, Daniel Klemm, said: “It’s absolutely terrible. People are forced to make some extremely difficult choices – do they put food on the table or do they pay the rent?”

The Spare Room Subsidy is designed to discourage housing benefit claimants from living in social homes which are too big for them. It cuts a social tenant’s housing benefit by 14 per cent if a claimant has one extra bedroom and by a quarter for two or more extra bedrooms.

But Mr Klemm said Bradford had a particular problem because it had lots of three-bedroom social housing, but fewer one and two-bedroom properties.

This meant tenants who wanted to move to a smaller property could not.

He said: “When the city fathers of Bradford built social housing in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, they didn’t take into account the Bedroom Tax. They built family homes.

“Providers like Incommunities have a lot of three-bedroom properties. What do we do with these homes, do we knock them down?”

Geraldine Howley, group chief executive of social landlord Incommunities, said the changes were still in their early days and Incommunities was still trying to assess the impact of them.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “The removal of the Spare Room Subsidy is a necessary reform that will return fairness to housing benefit.

“We have given councils £190 million to make sure those in need, including disabled people, are supported through welfare reforms and we are confident the pot will provide the right help for claimants.”

Councillor Val Slater (Lab, Royds), executive member for housing, said the new measures were hitting people like grandparents who wanted to have spare bedrooms for grandchildren to visit, or separated parents who had shared custody of children yet were not allowed to set aside bedrooms for them.

She said: “There are a lot of personal stories behind this.”